Unto Their Royal Majesties Thomas and Ilora; Master Seamus, Aten Principal Herald; the Heralds in the Atenveldt College of Heralds; and to All Whom These Presents Come,

Greetings of from Marta as tu Mika-Mysliwy, Brickbat Herald and Parhelium Herald for the Kingdom of Atenveldt!

This is the September 2012 Atenveldt Letter of Presentation. Please have commentary to me by 15 September 2012.

The Commentary, it is a-changing: While Letters of Presentation will continue to be posted on the atensubmissions.nexiliscom.com website, commenters should look for them on the OSCAR site in order to make timely commentary. OSCAR is now set up to show Letters of Presentation (known there as Internal Letters of Intent or ILoI), and comments can be posted there directly – you do NOT have to create a separate email/document for your thoughts. It is quick and easy, and you can see what fellow heralds have to say (that's the best part!). Even if you're a little shy about saying anything, this is the place to see the submission process in action – at least the portion after the client hands the submission packet to his/her herald. LoPs are there to catch the conflicts and tweak submissions in-kingdom to correct them, clear up questions, and give them the greatest possibility of being registered once they appear in a Letter of Intent.

Speaking of submissions: I accept direct-to-Kingdom submissions from heraldic clients; this might not be the most favorable route to take, particularly if a group has a territorial herald, and everyone can stay more in the “submission loop” if a submission is made in this fashion. However, in some cases, this is the only reasonable and timely way for a submission to be made. Local heralds need to send submissions on in a timely manner as well (i.e., within one month of receiving a submissions packet). If you cannot connect with me at an event (very likely) or attend Heraldry Hut, submissions need to be mailed within one month (yes, that's IMPORTANT!) of a local herald receiving them, unless there is a reason for return at the local level. My address: Linda Miku, 2527 E. 3^rd Street, Tucson AZ 85716.

Submissions Website: You can send electronic commentary on the most recent internal LoIs through the site, in addition to any questions you might have. Current submission forms (the ONLY forms that can be used) can be found on the site, along with guidelines for painlessly filling out the forms. Please let your local populace know about the site, too: atensubmissions.nexiliscom.com.

The following submissions are under consideration for inclusion in the September 2012 Atenveldt Letter of Intent:

Brietta inghean Cathasaigh (Twin Moons): NEW NAME and DEVICE

Per fess wavy gules and sable, a unicorn salient and in chief three mullets argent.

Brietta is the client's legal middle name (documentation provided to Laurel). Cathasaigh is the genitive form of the Early Modern Irish masculine name Cathasach, found in “Index of Names in Irish Annals: Cathassach / Cathasach,” Mari Elspeth nic Bryan (http://medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex/Masculine/Cathassach.shtml). The client desires a female name and is most interested in the meaning of the name.

The following submissions appear in the August 2012 Atenveldt Letter of Intent:

Commentary is provided by Alana O'Keeve, Andreas von Meißen, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Daniel de Lincoln, Eldrich Gaiman, Gunnvor silfraharr, Jeanne Marie Lacroix, Magnus von Lübeck, Taran the Wayward and Marta.

Anya Neledina (Ered Sul): NEW NAME and DEVICE: Quarterly vert and Or, a cross and overall on a roundel sable a peacock in his pride vert, tailed Or.

The original documentation provided by the client comes from an online Russian culture site, demonstrates the name as Anna, not Anya. Anya does not appear in Paul Goldschmidt's "Dictionary of Period Russian Names," http://heraldry.sca.org/paul/, but under the header Anna, Anny is dated to 1554-1556. Considering the numerous spellings for this name, including Anna/Ana, it does seem that Anya could be a reasonable variant of Annya.

Neledina (a river in Russia) is found in "Locative Bynames in Medieval Russia," Paul Wickenden of Thanet ( http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/toprus.html ); Neledinskii-Meletskii dates to the 15th C. It seems that the byname needs to be modified to form a correctly-constructed byname – Neledinskaia or possibly Neledinskaya might be appropriate for a woman who came from a region near/adjacent to this river.

Internal discussion suggested that the roundel was too large to justify called the cross a cross nowy. There is no excessive layering here, however (field, cross, roundel, peacock), since there are only three here: overall charges are considered to lie on the field (the roundel on the cross). It is acceptable to have tertiary charges on overall charges. The new blazon was suggested by Gunnvor.

Arianwen ferch Arthur. HOUSEHOLD NAME RESUBMISSION from Laurel, April 2012, Tyddyn Caer Mab

The client's name was registered June 2001.

The original household name submission Teleu Caer Mab, was returned because “this is not the sort of place name that was used to create the name of groups of people using Teleus. The places used to create such name are of regions and other larger places. The places used to create such names are of regions and other larger places. No evidence of a type of group that could be registered with that sort of place name was offered either. Barring such evidence, this name cannot be registered.” The client has chosen Tyddyn to demonstrate a group/household of people associated with a homestead. “Within the gwely [a set of descendents of a common great-grandfather], a particular family would have its tyddyn or homestead (with buildings and enclosed fields) [Jenkins 1986 p.99] and the use of a share of the rhandir ("share land"), which was the collection of lands in which a kin group had an interest. [Owen 1989 p.64]” Documentation is found in Period Welsh Models for SCA Households and the Nomenclature Thereof,” Heather Rose Jones, http://www.heatherrosejones.com/welshhouseholdname/family.html.

Caer Mab was found for the original submission as a grey-area place in Eifionydd: a study in landownership from the medieval period to the present day, in which Caer Mab is cited in the Eifionydd rental of 1631, p. 283 ( http://books.google.com/books?id=6n08AAAAMAAJ&q=%22caer+mab%22&dq=%22caer+mab%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TTYZT-XSHeSniQLOuOnBCA&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA ).

If this cannot be registered, the client would accept plant Arianwen Caer Mab or gafael Arianwen construction (from the same source as Tyddyn), using the client's registed name and Caer Mab as a locative byname to form the name portion.

Aurelia Nomadikη (Barony of Atenveldt): BADGE RESUBMISSION from Laurel September 2011, and NEW HOUSEHOLD NAME SUBMISSION, Domus Scorpionis Aurei

Gules, a Roman helmet Or between four scorpions in cross paly sable and Or.

The personal name was registered January 2008.

The household name is Latin, “House of Gold Scorpions.” The translation was provided via private correspondence with Metron Ariston (I think. Of course I cannot locate it now). Domus, as a term for house/household has been registered as recently as 2006 for Domus Montis et Solaris and 2010 for Domus Minervae.

The client's original badge submission, Gules, a Roman helmet within an annulet Or., appeared in the June 2011 Atenveldt LoI but was withdrawn at the client's request September 2011. This replaces that submission.

Fiona inghean Mheg Uidhir (Mons Tonitrus): NEW DEVICE CHANGE: Or, a cow statant and on a chief gules an arrow inverted and a filled drop spindle crossed in saltire Or.

The name was registered September 2008.

If this submission is registered, the client wishes to release her old device, Vert, a cow statant and in chief three annulets enfiled by an arrow fesswise reversed Or. (I hate to see the “three annulets enfiled by an arrow” go!)

Isabella Evangelista (Windale): EXCHANGE OF DEVICE and BADGE

(current device) Per chevron gules and sable, two thistles and a lion dormant contourny argent.

(current badge) Per bend sinister ermine and checky gules and Or.

The name was registered September 2004. The client provides a letter requesting that her badge become her device, and her device a badge.

Kata the Forthright (Windale): BADGE RESUBMISSION from Laurel, July 2007: (Fieldless) A looped tress of hair Or surmounted by a single-sided comb sable

The charge is found in Banners, Standards and Badges from a Tudor Manuscript in the college of Arms with an Introduction by Lord Howard de Walden, the De Walden Library, MCMIV. They are seen in a hand-drawn illustration of a standard for John Zouche de Codnore, his being encircled by a coronet (and with a badger standing within each braided loop). The accompanying caption notes “...white badgers (or grays) encircled by a golden cordon (originally a tress of hair), enfiled by a golden crown.” (Emphasis mine) Batonvert graciously provided the documentation. Orle notes “...and hair is depicted like this on a lot of women in German armory. I think it's identifiable as a tress.”

Kollsvein bloðhrafn (Burning Sands): NEW NAME and DEVICE: Argent, two chevronels gules between three raven's heads erased sable.

The name is Old Norse. Kollsveinn is a masculine given name found in “Viking Names found in Landnámabók,” Aryanhwy merch Catmael, http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/norse/landnamabok.html; it was suggested that the spelling be corrected to match the documentation (it appears that the genitive formation would be affected by a difference in spelling).

No commenters could justify the compound construction of the byname, which is intended to mean “blood raven.” It was suggested that the easiest fix would be to make it into two distance bynames, bloð and hrafn. Gunnvor noted that only one of the sources she checked for all bynames containing either “blood” or “raven” showed a byname formed with -hrafn, <Hrafnkell skáldhrafn> in Landnámabók.; most of the others use a prefix byname form, as Hrafna- (Finnur Jónsson's Tilnavne i den Islandske Oldlitteratur (Copenhagen: H. H. Thieles Bogtrykkeri. 1908. http://books.google.com/books?id=KWkSAAAAYAAJ))

Upon consultation with the client (at this point, he is amenable to some changes), he'd much rather have Kollsvien(n) bloð hrafn than Hrafna-Kollsvien(n) bloð, because it's much closer to his original submission.

The original submission has a conflict with Oonishikawa no Sabourou Yoshimura, Argent, two chevronels gules between two mullets of eight points elongated to base and a winged unicorn segreant sable winged gules. There is only 1 DC for the change in type of secondary group, but nothing for change in half of the tincture in only the bottommost part. It was cleared by changing the tincture of the device to Argent, two chevronels per pale gules and sable between three raven's heads erased sable.

Michaelis Maximus (Barony of Atenveldt): NEW NAME CHANGE and DEVICE RESUBMISSION from Laurel, June 2010

Sable, a ram rampant between four mullets in cross argent and a chief Or.

The name was original submitted as Michaelis Maximus Erasmus but was registered by Laurel June 2010 as Michaelis Erasmus: “Submitted as Michaelis Maximus Erasmus, this name mixes elements typical of a Latinized Renaissance name with an element, Maximus, that could only be found in a Classical or Byzantine Roman name. Michaelis Erasmus is a lovely Latinized Dutch name. Without evidence that Maximus might have been used in a time and place compatible with the late medieval or Renaissance Erasmus, it cannot be registered as part of this name. Therefore, we have dropped that element. Michaelis Maximus would alternately be registerable as a Byzantine name.” The client prefers Michaelis Maximus as was suggested and is submitting that as his new name. If it is registered, his old name is to be released.

Michael is a Biblical masculine name, dated 1196-1215, 1303 and 1346 (with the Michael spelling) in Withycombe, 3^rd ed., pp. 218-219. Maximus is a cognomen found in “Roman Names: Selecting and Using your Roman Name,” http://www.legionxxiv.org/nomens/. The client desires a male name and will not accept Major Changes to the name.

The client's original device submission, Sable vêtu Or, four compass stars in cross argent., was returned by Laurel (not Kingdom, as noted on the submission form) June 2010: “This device is returned for conflict with the device of Gerhard Helmbrecht von Offenbach, Gyronny azure and argent, four compass stars argent. There is a CD for the field, but the position of the compass stars in Gerhard's device is forced. The device is also returned for conflict with the device of Shirazuki Yoshitaro, Sable, vetu Or, within a torii gate argent a tricune Or. Both must be considered as Or, on a lozenge throughout sable..., and under that blazon, there is a single CD for the multiple changes to the tertiary charge group. The device is also in conflict with the badge of Isabel Dancere, Sable vetu ployé, a bowen knot crosswise Or. When compared as charged lozenges, there is a single CD for the changes to the tertiary charges. On resubmission, please inform the submitter that the use of a compass star is a step from period practice.”

Unfortunately for the client, this was assessed the fee as a new device submission, not as a resubmission by Laurel.

Seki Tora (Sundragon): NEW DEVICE: Sable, a pair of tanto argent hilted gules crossed in saltire and surmounted by a natural tiger's head affronty couped Or marked sable.

The tanto ("short sword") is a fixed-blade Japanese knife; it can have a single or a double edge. It is the shortest of the Japanese blades, usually under 12 inches in length (Japanese Sword Visual Glossary, http://home.earthlink.net/~steinrl/glossary.htm), so it can be/is considered a dagger rather than a full-length sword. The tanto first surfaced between the years 794-1185 as just a standard weapon, a practical blade. It became an artifact of higher quality and artistry between 1185 and 1333, before reverting to a more utilitarian, fighting weapon 1336-1573. Women carried an even smaller version of the tanto called a kaiken, used for self-defense (A Brief History of the Tanto, http://www.japanesejujitsu.org/a-brief-history-of-the-tanto). Of course, it can also be blazoned as a knife.

There was a lot of debate on the tiger's head for being too naturalistic. Reducing the size of the head slightly (and increasing the size of the blades), removing the neck so that the head is cabossed (adding to its quick identifiability), and making the head completely Or with sable stripes (there was a significant amount of argent around the ruff and mouth, complicating the blazon of the tinctures) were all approved by the client, and it makes a clearer, cleaner appearance of all charges. While naturalistic, reducing the tinctures to Or and sable prevent the tiger from being overly so. I'd consider the open vs. closed mouth a matter of artistic license. This does not violate A3D2c. Unity of Posture and Orientation, since the swords and the head are not in the same charge group.

Thaddeus the Legless (Ered Sul): NEW NAME and DEVICE: Vert, an unfletched arrow inverted argent.

In documenting the alternate name Thaddeus Guy for Otnand Vettich, the 9/2008 Outlands LoI notes that Thaddeus is a masculine given name found in Academy of St. Gabriel Report 2306: The name "Thaddeus is found in Footnote 8 of this report, as a common Anglicised form of "Tadhg", from an article on Late 16th Century given names. This would put the name as being in the 1500's.” (http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi/2306.txt). It would seem that Thaddeus was an English masculine name common enough to be used as a substitute for a similar-sounding foreign name. Bynames referring to a human leg are found in Reaney and Wilson, 3rd edition, p. 276, s.n. Legg, Legge (Leg 1176, 1185, Legg(e) 1327). Various forms of Lawless from 1350 and 1533 are indicative of an individual who is an outlaw or one uncontrolled by the law (R&W, p. 273 s.n. Lawless); it seems the -less suffix in conjunction with leg could be used to connote an unfortunate but obvious physical condition of an individual. Middle English Dictionary demonstrates legles c1390 Vrn.Mir.Virg.(Vrn) 156/50: He was Counseyled hewe of his leg Þen longe to suffre so..Þerfore hym þou3te beter legles Þen so to suffre þer-wyþ. And the Oxford English Dictionary Second edition, 1989; online version June 2012 <http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/107127>; accessed 02 August 2012 and the earlier version first published in New English Dictionary, 1902. has legless from 1597: T. Middleton Wisdome of Solomon Paraphr. ix. iv. sig. L3, A leglesse body is my kingdomes mappe.

The client desires a masculine name. The sound of the name is most important to him.

I was unsure on the actual identity of the charge – most commenters believed it to be a rune rather than an arrow. Further consultation with the client did indeed confirm this as a the Tyr or Tiwaz rune. This runs afoul of SENA GP.2. Registration and Documentation: “... Some items are considered too generic to be registered...Another category that may not be registered is an armorial design consisting only of abstract charges such as letters, runes, Arabic script, astrological symbols, and the like. Such a registration might prevent someone from using a form of their name or monogram.  These generic items are not restricted by the College of Arms, but may not be registered to anyone...” The client redesigned his device, adding a roundel, hence Vert, on a roundel argent a Tiwaz rune vert.

The following submissions are returned by the Atenveldt College of Heralds for further work, July 2012:

Muirgein inghean uí AnTáilliúir (Granholme): NEW NAME and DEVICE: Argent, a chevron throughout between the Elder Futhark runes pertho and algiz and a cat passant contourny sable.

Unfortunately, it's not clear that Tangwystyl was correct in asserting that <Muirgein> was used by women.

The 07/2008 LoAR notes: “Submitted as Muirghein inghean Ui Flainn, the submitter requested authenticity for 12th century Gaelic and desired a feminine name. As past precedent indicates, Muirghein is a masculine name: 'Muirghein MacKiernan. Name. The submitter requested authenticity for 16th C Irish, allowed minor changes, and noted that she wanted a female name. No examples have been found of the name Muirghein being used as a feminine given name for real women in period. As such, the submitted name is must be [sic] a masculine name. [LoAR 11/2001]'

“No new evidence was provided for Muirghein being used by women; as such it must be considered a masculine name and so cannot be registered with a feminine byname. The most similar feminine name that was found by the commenters is Muirenn, found in Mari Elspeth nic Brian, "Index of Names in the Irish Annals", between 643 and 979. [Meridies-A]”

Lacking new evidence for <Muirgein> being used by women (and I could find any), it's not registerable with a feminine byname. What's more important to her -- <Muirgein>? Having a feminine name? The language? If she wants to be the tailor herself, rather than the daughter of one, would she be interested in something like <Morgan Taylor>? [AmC]

The first rune is <perthro> with an R. [Gs]

These two may conflict with this submission:
Bjarki Magnússon: "Argent, a chevron between two Maltese crosses and an axe sable."
Sabine of Shernbourne: "Argent, a chevron between three chalices inverted sable." [MvL]

Both are conflicts, with just one DC for the type of secondaries; there is no meaningful comparison of orientation to be made between the groups. [AmC]

RETURNED for clarification of name; and conflict with device

Thank you all for your continuing hard work for the Atenveldt College of Heralds and the people it serves!

Marta as tu Mika-Mysliwy

c/o Linda Miku

2527 East 3^rd Street

Tucson AZ 85716

brickbat@nexiliscom.com

atensubmissions.nexiliscom.com